A closer look at the HemisFair Park plan

In today’s Express-News, I wrote about how the city is attempting to introduce a bill into the 83rd Texas legislative session (convenes in January) which would allow the city to dedicate and undedicate park land within HemisFair Park. Normally, selling park land or converting it to another use required a public vote. HemisFair Park planners argue that the master plan is so complex that the kind of flexibility the bill would provide is necessary.

They also say that when it’s all said and done, the plan (shown above) is to have 20 acres of park land (up from 6.5 currently) and 20 acres of development from Chavez Boulevard and above. This number does not include property the HemisFair Park Area Redevelopment Corp. wants to obtain south of Chavez.

It’s also important to remember that HPARC is a long ways away from accomplishing this master plan. Years, even. But this is what it’s envisioning right now.

You can see the park space in green. And in the southwest corner of the park  Plaza de Artes  is an area for families that would include water features and restaurants in some of the older, original buildings. So a portion of that area (about four acres) would be considered park space, too.

The street grid on the south east corner is envisioned as a neighborhood with enough buildings to account for 1,200 new residential units. This is the current location of the Institute of Texan Cultures. The ITC would in theory move into the rectangular structure just west of the San Antonio River as it drops down from Market Street. Those plans are not definite.

Somewhere between Plaza de Artes and the neighborhood would be mixed-use buildings.

The dark brown structures to the east and west of the Tower of the Americas would be parking structures. And the yellow buildings surrounding them would be considered liner buildings that could include office space, more residential and other mixed-use purposes.

The Convention Center expansion is indicated in bright orange.

And to the northwest, the area that eventually will be cleared when the original Convention Center is demolished, is envisioned as a large green space. The two rectangular structures around the open space facing Market and Alamo streets would be arch-like structures that would serve as gateways into the park.

These are all facets of HemisFair Park that I will keep on top of as the master plan develops.